"Chelsea Football Club is obviously pleased that the Appeals Committee has vindicated the club's position and opened the door for a compensation claim and sporting sanctions before FIFA's Dispute Resolution Chamber, " the league leaders said in a statement.

CNN: Chelsea aim to recoup loss on Mutu

Mr Ferrini made his claim for compensation from Germany in 1998 and in 2004 the Italian supreme court decided in his favour.

BBC: UN court rules against Italy over WWII compensation

Under instruction from the financial authorities, the industry is now going back through past sales and alerting customers to the possibility that they can now make a claim for compensation - a process which is generating a huge bill for the UK's banks.

BBC: Lloyds Banking Group raises PPI bill by a further ?1bn

Only one of the Nigerian plaintiffs, Eric Barizaadooh, was in court on Wednesday and his claim was rejected, But he said he was happy for the village that won compensation.

BBC: Shell Nigeria case: Court acquits firm on most charges

Only one of the Nigerian plaintiffs, Eric Barizaadooh, was in court Wednesday and his claim was rejected by the court, but he said he was happy for the village that won compensation.

NPR: Dutch Court Rejects Most Of Shell Spill Case

Claimants for compensation will have to prove before a judge that they really owned the land they claim, and that it was unjustly seized (a flexible concept: a judge might accept that the late dictator Anastasio Somoza had indeed awarded himself legal title to some land he had got hold of, but that its confiscation after he was overthrown in 1979 was fair enough).

ECONOMIST: Nicaragua